In the land of hobbits

In New Zealand! Yay!

I've been so excited and busy I completely forgot about my sister's birthday on the 11th (that's yesterday, at least here...)! Sorry, Aura! I wish you a fantastic, ballistic, optimistic and surrealistic birthday!

I'm staying with family friends' friends, on their small sheep and young dairy cattle farm, near to Otorohanga. They've been very friendly, helpful and welcoming. They've done a lot for me, they've been calling all over the place for work opportunities. Their house is absolutely stunning. Well, not the house, although it is comfy and above average, but the VIEW. Perfect V-shaped valley with interlocking spurs just out the front door. Looks rather like Hobbiton, a bit rougher though. STUNNING. (But the internet is really slow, the coverage isn't Finnish standards in NZ...)

I'm also going to be milking cows today. Yes, that's right, I'll be milking cows. I tried that yesterday for the first time, on a neighbour's farm. He has 130 cows that have to be milked (and some calves, that don't have to be milked). It takes about an hour. The milking itself is straight-forward. You just have to learn to dodge kicks, wees and poos, since you'd be standing behind the cows. The neighbour is a very easy-going, talkative guy, and I'm grateful that he'll teach me :)

Yesterday night I went to the local rotary meeting. It was very interesting, even the long speech, which gave me an idea of what the rotaries have been involved in. I also met a 16-year-old Danish exchange student, whose home is in Greenland. He's going to school in Otorohanga for a year and staying with four different rotary host families during that time. Then there was a 26-year-old French university student, Simon. He's studying the maori culture, or something along those lines. We spoke a bit of French :) He seemed pleased to hear someone speak his own language. He also told me to keep up my French; apparently there are some French people here I should meet.

I opened myself a bank account with KiwiBank today. The current balance is 0.00 dollars. Soon to change I hope. I haven't found work yet, but there are opportunities around, just have to keep talking and asking...